Moving house and moving your 3" tank!

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jonathanscottlee

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Hi all,

Am considering moving house (finally after trying to save up a deposit for a house! I really don't like those landlords who buy more than 1 houses!!)... anyhow, does anyone have any advice about moving my fish tank? Obviously, i need to get rid of some water otherwise it will be far too heavy. Should i try and keep this water? How about the change in temperature when i transport the fish for 4 miles with an unplugged heater? May be I should use my small tank to transport the fish and keep them somewhere while re-setting up the 3" tank?

Any hints would be cool.
Jon
 
When I moved my 10 gallon from one home to another...

I bagged my fish in bags provided to me by my lfs (I used fairly clean aquarium water). I then drained 75 percent of the tank water and then I left the gravel, the filter bio-wheel, and the tank decorations in the tank (covered by the remaining 25 percent of the water). I put the fish and the tank into my car and drove to the new house.

I set up tank again with 75% new water and 25% old water and all the 'soaking' substrate etc. I, of course, acclimated my fish to the new tank water and that is it (in a nutshell). No losses.

HTH
 
When I got my biggest fish tank it was like them moving house so I am sure it is the same!

The fish were put into 5UK gallon fermenting buckets with plants etc. The sand was bagged up and the filters too. They arrived to me and I set it all up using 75% new water and the rest from what was my current tropical tank.

I added fish slowly by bagging them up and then flaoating them for a bit addiing water a few times to the bag from the new tank.

I had perfect levels the next day!

HTH
 
Thanks for the advice but I have a few questions...

How did you account for/deal with the new water temperature difference? Did you use warm water from the tap? How did you keep the water warm for the fish during the journey?

Thanks again!
j
 
I always bag the fish for the move, the best way to do it IMO.
Place the fish and plants in bags the way a fish store would and put those in coolers to keep the temperature even. Bag the filter media in the same way to preserve the bacteria. Transfer the gravel in a bucket. There is no need to keep any water except for what was in the bags.
If you the fish will be bagged for a considerable time, you can take the to a fish store and ask them to bag them with oxygen, fish can last 36 hours in a bag like that. Also, put one bag upside down in a second bag so that small fish don't get crushed in the corners and to preven leaking.
 
One thing that may be obvious to you, but wasn't to me, was how to move the actual tank. When moving the I was told to not let it twist or bend as this would cause cracks in the corners. We moved ours (not 4 miles admittedly) by removing most of the water first, and then placing the tank on a larger peice of wood (we used chipboard I think) and carried the tank that way.

Thought I'd mention it.
 

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